Govt likely to scale down growth target in next fiscal year: sources

The government missed the GDP growth target in current year by 0.8 percent on account of poor performance of the agriculture sector as the National Accounts Committee (NAC) meeting estimated 4.7 percent growth against a target of 5.5 percent for the current fiscal year.

The government’s economic managers are reconsidering the growth target for the next fiscal year, which is likely to be fixed at 5.7 percent instead of an ambitious 6.5 pct. The decision being taken to avoid widespread criticism, economic pundits said.

Expansion and growth in the industrial and services sectors were not enough to carry the day and coupled with lack of spending and high tax rates, the economy was never going to meet the target of 5.5 per cent growth.

After negative growth in agriculture sector the government likely to fix a target of 3.5 pct growth for the next fiscal year.